The American Community Survey Is Un-American

September 15, 2011

A September 13, 2011 article by Richard Moore in the Lakeland Times brings to light the insidious and invasive American Community Survey being mailed randomly by the U.S. Census Bureau to American households, demanding recipients to reveal to the government all manner of personal private household information.

As part of a test, every household in Vilas County, Wisconsin received this incredibly invasive questionnaire during the 2000 census. Many households received a similar, somewhat shorter questionnaire in the 2010 census.

A sample of just a few of the questions asked in the survey:

• Does the house have a flush toilet? A sink with faucet? Hot and cold running water? Telephone service?

• Is the respondent deaf or have trouble hearing? Is he or she blind, or have trouble seeing even when wearing glasses?

• How many times have the people in the household been married? When was the last time?

• Does anybody have difficulty dressing themselves, or running errands, and, if so, who are they?

• How do the people in the household get to work, and what time in the morning do they leave for work? How many people travel with them to work?

• If household members are unemployed, are they looking for work? If they are employed, who's the employer? What kind of work are they doing for what company?

Under the federal law the Census Bureau uses to justify this questionnaire, the Census Bureau threatens to levy fines of $100 for each unanswered question, $500 for a falsely answered question, and up to $5,000 in total fines.

Here’s my perspective.

For the 2000 census, I tacked a note to the Census Bureau on my front door, which stated the total number of persons in my household. When the local census workers came to my house, they asked if this note was intended for them. I answered, “Yes.” The census worker asked me if I was refusing to answer any further questions, to which I answered, “Yes.” The census worker walked away, and I could honestly say I had answered every question the census worker asked of me.

In 2010, I again tacked a note to my front door, stating the total number of persons in my household. The census worker saw the note and tried to explain to me how collecting all this information was really a good thing. I stood my ground. Later, the census supervisor called my house, also trying to explain how I should really answer al these questions, and how it was important for the government to know all this information about me. I was also told I could face fines for refusing to answer these questions.

Even though the census supervisor was a good neighbor and a friend, I refused to answer the questions.

Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution requires that an enumeration be taken every ten years. According to the Constitution, ““Representatives … shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct.”

That part that says “The actual enumeration shall be made…in such manner as they shall by law direct” only applies to the manner in which the enumeration is made. It dsoes not give the Census Bureau carte blanche to require you to answer their invasive questions.

In the 5^th Amendment, the Constitution also says “No person … shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.”

Constitutionally, you cannot be convicted of a crime for refusing to answer the government’s questions.

The Census Bureau has yet to send a government goon squad to my door to arrest me for refusing to answer their questions. Should the day ever come, I will inform the courts that I did, in fact, answer every question asked of my by Census Bureau employees, and that, under my 5^th Amendment Rights, I do not have to answer their questions anyway.

There is one question in the American Community Survey I wouldn’t mind answering, that question asking what my race is.

I am an American. Period.

You can find and contact your U.S. Senators here and your Representative in the House here. One very quick and simple solution to this situation would be to make compliance with the Census Bureau’s questions voluntary instead of mandatory under penaly of law.

If you would like further reading on this subject, may I recommend How to Legally Refuse to Participate in the Census Survey